Rep. Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, sponsored HB352 and its companion resolution HCR4 to remove the state as trustee of the Utah Navajo Trust Fund. The measures ask Congress to find a new overseer.

"We're the only state in the nation to be a trustee for tribal trust funds," Clark told a Senate committee in late February.

At that meeting, Ruby Nakoli, a Navajo from San Juan County's Aneth Extension, spoke out against the legislation. She fears the trust funds, if administered by the tribe's Navajo Utah Commission, could be misused to advance its agenda rather than to benefit the people.

"I looked into it and I'm quite perplexed by [the concerns]," Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, told fellow senators Monday. "You don't want to hurt the local people, but on the other hand it costs the state money to manage these funds."

San Juan County and its part of the Navajo Nation are in Sen. Mike Dmitrich's district.

The Price Democrat agreed with Jenkins' concerns and he supports getting Utah out of the role of trustee. However, he acknowledged tribe members' resistance to the proposed legislation.

"I just got a call the other night that said the Navajo Nation's president opposed both these bills," Dmitrich said. "I want to make sure they keep their money."

Alleged mismanagement and misuse of the funds by the state has been the focus of lawsuits that have been working their way through the courts for years.

cmckitrick@sltrib.com